DARK CORE

"Uncle!" Jiayi screamed in pain as she touched her cheek.

"You are such a disappointment. Come back with me to the dark realm. There is nothing for you to do here" Lord Pain said.

"Is there a problem?" Fengge asked.

"Fengge. What are you doing here? Pay your respects. This is my father." Tingzhe said.

"Greetings Lord Pain. Since you are already here, why don't you come in?" Fengge asked.

"I would love to. But I have other matters to attend to. I only came to pick up Princess Jiayi." Lord Pain said.

"What a shame. It would have been nice to have the legendary Lord Pain at my banquet." Fengge said before noticing the hand print on Jiayi's face.

"This matter doesn't concern you. You best not say anything." Lord Pain said as if reading his mind.

"Lord Pain, you are in the heavenly realm and today is an auspicious day. Slapping a princess in the heavenly realm, are you trying to make things difficult for us?" Fengge asked making Jiayi smile.

"You are right. Today is an auspicious day for the heavenly realm. In that case, I will be going with Jiayi." Lord Pain said smiling.

"Brother Fengge, I am so sorry that I have to leave so soon. Don't worry. I will make it up to you. We can go and the explore the mortal realm together later." Jiayi said hugging him.

"Whatever you say. After my birthday, I will surely ask my father to allow me to marry you" Fengge said.

"Really?"Jiayi asked pretending to be excited.

"Of course. I will never break my promise to you" Fengge said.

Lord Pain and Tingzhe looked on as the two of them hugged. Tingzhe sighed pitying his friend who didn't see Jiayi for who she was. In the dark realm, there were two type of demon spirits demons didn't trust. One was snake demons, the other was fox demons. The problem was that Fengge believed in the good of everyone.

Unable to stand his niece's lies any longer, Lord Pain stepped forward.

"We have to go." Lord Pain said to Jiayi making Fengge release her from his arms.

"Bye bye Brother Fengge" Jiayi said.

"Bye bye" Fengge said watching as the both of them disappeared.

The dark king opened his eyes looking at the ceiling. The strong smell of the incense was making him even more dizzy. He looked around and saw Yang Han sitting by his side. When he tried to get up, he realized he was chained to the bed.

"Yang Han, what is this?" The dark king asked shaking his body against the iron.

"Godfather, please forgive me. Lord Pain said....." Yang Han said halfway.

"Forget it. Don't answer your uncle. I assure you that I am no longer being controlled by the dark core." The dark king said.

"I know godfather. But just to be sure....."Yang Han said.

"Let me go! I said let me go!" The dark king said screaming, his eyes changing to black.

Yang Han got up immediately shifting from his godfather. Indeed he was right. His godfather was still being controlled by the dark core. Standing up, he watched as his godfather continued struggling against the chains.

Just as the dark king continued struggling, Lord Pain and Jiayi appeared in the room.

"Father! Father!" Jiayi called out running to the dark king.

"Get away from him!" Yang Han shouted trying to separate Jiayi from the dark king.

"No. Leave me alone." Jiayi said struggling.

Just as they were about to move closer to her, Jiayi used her father's signet ring to create a barrier around them.

"Father! Father, what's wrong with you?" Jiayi asked holding the dark king who was shaking violently against the chains.

"Jiayi! Please come out of there. He can hurt you." Yang Han shouted.

"Father, I'm sorry. Please stop shaking. What's wrong with my father! What exactly did you do to my father!" Jiayi shouted at Yang Han.

While Lord Pain calmly summoned his powers to break the barrier. His brother was much more powerful than him on a daily basis even without the dark core acting up. Using 70% of his powers, he was finally able to break the barrier grabbing Jiayi away.

"Father! Father!" Jiayi screamed.

Using one hand, Lord Pain spun her pushing her to Yang Han. Before she could get control of herself, Yang Han hit her unconscious. After Jiayi had been laid by the wall, Lord Pain and Yang Han formed a formation. With Yang Han behind Lord Pain transferring him some of his cultivation, Lord Pain tried to calm his brother and help him gain his senses. Only the dark king could control the dark core.

After a few minutes, the both of them stopped when they noticed the dark king's eyes change to grey which meant that he had regained some his consciousness.

"Elder brother! Are you okay?" Lord Pain asked.

"Godfather!" Yang Han said.

"Quick! Untie me so that I can stop the dark core" The dark king said.

Lord Pain stood up about to untie the dark king when Yang Han stopped him.

"Uncle! Don't do it. What if he's pretending?" Yang Han asked.

"He's not." Lord Pain said removing Yang Han's hands from his.

Untying the dark king, Lord Pain helped him sit up while he sat down behind the dark king. Calming himself, the dark king tried to control the dark core. Yang Han watched as his godfather, the dark king started bleeding from his nose while trying to control the dark core showing that he was in pain from the effects of the dark core.

Meanwhile, while the dark king was suffering in pain from the effect of the dark core, Lord Pain was getting stronger and was healing. This was because that was the way Lord Pain's powers was. He feed on the emotion of pain and suffering coming from anyone or anything.

This made him the strongest demon apart from the dark king. The mortal world wasn't without suffering. Many people suffered from different causes which always made him stronger. Now, he's brother was the one who was suffering in pain.

Using his powers, Lord Pain drew away the pain his brother was feeling feeding on it. He was a demon and he was proud of it. Instead of spending thousands of years cultivating, he could easily increase his cultivation.

After an hour, the dark king sat down sighing. Yang Han immediately poured some water giving it to his godfather. Lord Pain had regained his cultivation back due to what had happened and everything was back to normal.

"Elder brother, please watch your temper. The dark core feeds on dark emotions. Anger and rage is the worst emotion you should be feeling." Lord Pain said.

Just as the dark king was about to talk, his eyes darted to the corner where Jiayi was lying down peacefully.

"You brought her back? Jiayi" The dark king called as he walked to his daughter.

Kneeling down beside her, he touched her face gently causing her to wake up.

"Father? Father!" Jiayi said hugging her father.

"Jiayi. My little princess" The dark king said feeling his daughter's hair.

"I'm so sorry father. Please forgive me. I didn't mean to cause you any harm." Jiayi said crying.

"Ah, don't cry. You will look ugly" The dark king said teasing Jiayi.

Yang Han smiled as he watched his godfather and Jiayi reunited. Yang Han knew that even though Jiayi looked like she was selfish and superficial, she really loved her father which was all that mattered.

Helping Jiayi up, Jiayi held her father as she led him to the bed to sit down.

"Look at what you did Jiayi. You actually caused your father to have a relapse" Lord Pain said.

"Relapse? What do you mean? Why does my father have a relapse?" Jiayi asked.

"Shut up you little brat. You don't have the right to demand anything." Lord Pain said.

"Lord Pain!" The dark king said in a warning tone causing Lord Pain to turn his face away.

"It was nothing serious. Godfather, I mean father just had a panic attack from not seeing you" Yang Han said.

"What exactly are you good for? Aren't you his godson? Why didn't you take care of him?" Jiayi asked rudely.

"You better shut up." Lord Pain said gritting his teeth.

Rolling her eyes which made Lord Pain open his mouth open in shock, Jiayi turned to her father holding his hand.

"Take care father. I will go and prepare you some demon egg porridge so you can regain your strength" Jiayi said smiling.

Nodding his head, the dark king watched as Jiayi left the room before turning to Yang Han and Lord Pain.

"Why are you behaving like that to Jiayi? She is your niece" The dark king said scolding Lord Pain.

"She is spoilt and talks anyhow to her senior brother. She downgrades him in public causing him to lose face. I have never supported your idea of spoiling her" Lord Pain said.

"I know that Jiayi is obnoxious but she is still my child. My only child. Don't forget that we lost her sister. I beg you. Be nicer to Jiayi" The dark king said.

"Fine." Lord Pain said grumpily.

"Please punish me godfather. I failed to watch over Princess Jiayi." Yang Han said kneeling down while the two brother exchanged glances.

"Rise. Its not your fault. The both of you should listen up. Jiayi must never suspect anything." The dark king said watching as they nodded.

Jiayi had just been coming back from the kitchen after she had finished cooking her father's porridge when she was pulled away into the dark corner. Before she could react, she saw herself being kissed deeply as the person roughly grabbed her hair. Smiling against the person's lips, she dropped the bowl of porridge allowing it to fall to the ground breaking as she wrapped her hands around the person's neck.

"Master!" Jiayi said gasping for air.

"Where you going?" Lord Sly asked.

"To my father's room. I made him some demon egg porridge for him to regain his strength" Jiayi said smiling.

"Demon eggs? Why? What happened?" Lord Sly asked.

"He had a panic attack." Jiayi said wrapping her hands round Lord Sly's neck.

"Ahhh. Really? Then you better get going" Lord Sly said smiling.